


Winter Wallflowers (A Secret Santa Gift for sjwarwick on Tumblr)

by Extervus



Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Alcohol, At least for background characters lmao, Drunkenness, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:35:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28321743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Extervus/pseuds/Extervus
Summary: Here's my Secret Santa gift for sjwarwick!! I hope you like it!!"May I sit here?" A thickly, accented voice asked."You are already sitting," Tae Joon pointed out, because of course his first words to Bloodhound would be sarcastic."I could always stand back up-""No, no, you can sit with me. You can sit wherever you like," he said quickly, and he had never so badly wanted to slap himself across the head. Bloodhound huffed out a laugh, one that was somehow accentuated by their face mask, causing Tae Joon's breath to catch on his throat.God, he was in deep.
Relationships: Bloodhound/Crypto | Park Tae Joon, Loba Andrade/Bangalore | Anita Williams, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Rampart | Ramya Parekh/Wattson | Natalie Paquette
Comments: 1
Kudos: 23





	Winter Wallflowers (A Secret Santa Gift for sjwarwick on Tumblr)

**Author's Note:**

> Dear god I hope the formatting doesn't get fucked up.
> 
> Enjoy!

Snowflakes drifted carelessly outside of Tae Joon’s window as he sat at his desk, deep in thought as he reread the same document for the thirtieth time that night. His coffee had gone cold hours ago, to the point where rings had begun to form on the inner sides of the cup each time he drank more of it down. He could easily get up and brew himself some more, but he was afraid that if he looked away from his laptop for too long, the document would disappear forever. Plus, he was staying at the Apex Complex tonight, and if he got up this late and someone saw him, they would no doubt attempt to strike up a conversation with him that he didn’t really want to have, or worse yet, they might even ask if he was okay. So, despite his taste buds complaining, he reached for the lime colored cup and took another, absolutely abhorrent sip of his coffee.

Setting the cup back down, he took one last glance at his screen, then finally decided to call it a night. No amount of rereading and caffeine fueled energy was going to bring him closer to bringing Mila home, no matter how hard he willed it to be, so the next best thing was to sleep on it. Besides, he had been invited to Witt’s annual Holiday Bash tomorrow night, and despite his best judgement, he had accepted the invitation. He hadn’t gone to it last year, back when Elliott’s party ship was still in commission (as far as he knew, he still owned it, it was just a lot cheaper to host a party at his bar rather than in a huge, hover ship that needed to constantly burn fuel to stay afloat), but that had been a different time. A different Tae Joon. A year ago, he saw the other Legends as nothing more than pawns in The Syndicate’s games at best, and hindrances in his search for Mila at worst. Now, he saw them as companions. Friends, even, in some cases. He had grown fond of almost every one of them, and he had even taken a liking to the newest Legend, Dr. Mary Somers; afterall, it was nice to finally meet another science-type lover of technology who _didn’t_ want to kill him. As such, he had decided to accept Elliott’s invitation, though a nervous part of him was wishing he hadn’t. That was a worry for tomorrow Tae Joon, though, so he tried not to dwell on it.

Shutting his laptop, Tae Joon slowly stood up, to which his body loudly protested against (he didn’t even know his bones could crack in that many ways). He set his half full cup of coffee on the floor by his desk, a habit he had ever since a cup had been knocked over onto his old laptop while he had been sleeping one night many years ago. He told himself that he’d pour it out tomorrow morning, but if the various other cups that sat on the floor beside his desk were any indication, he may end up forgetting once again. Luckily, Tae Joon was already in his pajamas, so after brushing his teeth and washing the grease off his face (he should really buy more fans, his room was ridiculously hot), he collapsed onto his bed. He reached for his phone from his nightstand, then after thinking about it for another moment, decided it would be best for his mental state if he _didn’t_ stay up another two hours on his phone in bed. Pulling his hand away, he rolled over onto his side with a huff, facing away from both his phone and his computer. He wasn’t quite sure exactly how long it took, but after what felt like an hour or so of wrestling to calm his nerve-wracked mind, he finally found himself drifting off into fitful dreams filled with running and blood red hair.

When Tae Joon awoke the next morning, there was a brief moment of panic when he couldn’t remember where he was, followed shortly by _another_ moment of panic where, once he remembered where he was, he thought he had slept in through a match. Leaping out of bed, Tae Joon made his way to his closet before catching a glimpse of the snowy landscape outside his window and subsequently realizing that, oh right, they were all on holiday break. Right. He glanced at the analog clock on his wall and sighed when he saw that it was already 1:33 p.m. Match or not, he had definitely slept in more than he had intended to, but there was nothing he could do about that now. Post-sleep grogginess quickly replaced the misplaced anxiety he had felt as he began his morning (or rather, early afternoon) routine.

By 2:00 p.m., he was fully showered and the overnight coffee taste in his mouth was almost entirely gone (honestly, he wasn’t sure if ANY amount of teeth brushing would ever be able to fully get rid of coffee breath, much to his grievance), and he had thrown on a simple, yet comfortable, set of clothes to begin his day. Of course, his “day” really only had about four hours left, since Elliott’s party would start at 7:00 p.m., and Tae Joon would need to be ready to head out by about 6:00 p.m. It was only a thirty minute ride out to Solace City, but he planned on riding in a manually driven taxi, so he would need to account for the time it’d take the driver to get out to the Apex Complex. Sure, it would be simpler, and faster, to hire an automatic taxi, but Tae Joon couldn’t afford to trust something that was so easily hacked. He didn’t want to think of all the different ways that someone could kill him if he were trapped in a taxi. He shuddered.

Tae Joon pocketed his phone as he walked out the door into the hallway, being sure to secure every lock behind him. By default, every dorm door had only one, main lock, like just about any other door, but in his initial paranoia after joining the games, he had made sure to install a few extra security measures to prevent any unwanted visitors, whether while he was gone, or while he was sleeping. Natalie had helped him with that, back when they first started to get along. Even Elliott had given him a few tips on how to lock a door even tighter without relying too much on technology, though not before calling him a “paranoid weirdo” (affectionately, he assured himself).

Tae Joon made his way to the communal kitchen that everyone who chose to live in the Apex Complex full time shared. Really only he, Natalie and Renee used it the most, as they were the ones who lived here more or less full time; everyone else spent most of their off time in their respective homes. Or refurbished men’s rooms, in the case of Rampart.

After rummaging through the cabinets for a bit, he finally found a brand of cereal that seemed well enough to have for his late breakfast, one he hadn't heard of before called Frosted Tips. _Must be new_ , he thought to himself, pouring some into a bowl. He took some soy milk out of the fridge, which he was eternally grateful that he wasn't out of cause he was extremely lactose intolerant and that would just ruin his day completely, and added it to his bowl as well. He took a few bites as he walked around the kitchen, bowl balanced in one hand, as he slowly but surely made himself a cup of coffee with his other. By the time the coffee was done brewing, he had already finished his cereal, so he set the bowl down gently in the sink and made his way back to his dorm.

After once again back in his room, door securely locked behind him, Tae Joon set his coffee on his desk and sat down, his chair squeaking in protest as he did. His feet bumped into the numerous, mostly empty cups of old coffee on the floor, and he sighed, bringing his hands up to his face. He had told himself last night that he'd deal with those today. In fact, he had been telling himself that every night for the last week or so. He had planned on continuing to analyze the document currently waiting for him on his computer, but before he knew it, he was standing back up and grabbing a handful of the empty cups and carrying them out to the kitchen. It took a couple of trips, but his room was finally void of any cups, save for the one he had just made earlier. He glanced at his closet, at the piles of clothes strewn about inside and the empty coat hangers dangling from the bar. It was a pain in the ass every morning when he was in a rush and couldn't find which clothes to wear (which was about half the time, if he was being honest), so he figured, why not, and started out on organizing the cluttered mess.

After what felt like hours later, Tae Joon stood before his now organized closet. Future him was gonna be so happy now that he didn’t have to dig through mountains of clothes just to find something decent to wear every day. He had even set out an outfit for Elliott’s party later, which- he glanced at the clock on the wall- started in three hours, which meant he had about an hour and a half before he needed to start getting ready to leave. He glanced at his laptop, then shook his head. _No, might as well keep this cleaning train going,_ he thought to himself, then made his way to his bathroom to clean that up to. It only took him about twenty minutes, so then he made his bed, swept his floor (it took him a while to find a broom, which ended up being in Pathfinder’s dorm, for some reason), and even dusted everything off.

 _God,_ Tae Joon thought to himself as he stood within his now mostly spotless room, _this must be what Octavio feels like all the time._ It hadn't been vigorous work, but he only ever took the time to clean his space once every blue moon, not cause he was necessarily lazy, but because he usually just didn't even think about it, so the post-cleaning spree energy coursing through him was like riding a high. A glance at the clock told him that he had finished just in time, too, so Tae Joon set about getting ready for the party. He threw on the clothes he had set out earlier: a blue sweater with white snowflakes strewn about and the nicest pair of black skinny jeans he had. Elliott had made it clear that he wanted everyone who had them to wear ugly their Christmas sweaters, but Tae Joon didn't actually celebrate Christmas, so the closest thing he had was this sweater that Natalie had gifted him the year prior. He admired himself in the mirror; he didn't think blue was a great color on him, green would always be more his style, but it was one of his favorite colors, so he couldn't complain too much.

Satisfied with his look, he walked over to his desk and picked up his secondary phone, the one the Apex Officials had gifted him when he first became a Legend. Every Legend was offered one, but it was mostly optional, especially since most Legends already had their own phones. He was no different, but there was no way in hell he was letting them know he had a cell phone that was kitted out to be more powerful than even the average computer, so he told them he had no phone and they required him to accept the phone they offered him. As such, he only really used it to order food or call taxis, and he only carried it with him to keep up appearances when he had to be interviewed or talk with any of the Apex Officials. 

After calling for a taxi, he tossed the phone back in the drawer of his desk, grabbed his real phone, and walked out of his room, locking everything up behind him. The empty halls of the Apex Complex echoed as he made his way down to the ground level. Renee and Natalie had both no doubt already left, as they were both helping Elliott set up the party, along with Rampart and Pathfinder, so the only people left were him and a couple of janitors, one of which he passed in the stairwell. She waved, and he waved back.

Outside, the snowfall from the night before had stopped, but the cold persisted. Crystal white snow surrounded him on all sides, the glare of the sun only amplifying its brightness. Snow crunched beneath his feet as he made way to the circle drive; the Legend Parking was much closer and even had an indoor opening for ease of access, but it wasn't open to the public, so he would have to walk through the snow to get to where his taxi would be. That was another reason why most people chose to call automatically driven taxis, as they could access the Legend Parking, but he would rather walk through half a foot of snow than risk getting driven off a bridge by a hijacked car.

After another few minutes walking, Tae Joon had made it to the circle drive, where the taxi he had called was already waiting. He smiled at the driver- a young woman with light brown skin and long, thick black curls- and climbed into the back seat. He gave her the address, which she immediately recognized as Elliott Witt's bar, they began the drive out into the city.

As Tae Joon warmed back up from the cold, the feelings of anxiety deep in his chest bubbled back up. Tae Joon had never been a social man, preferring only the company of his sister and a couple of other close friends at most, and that fact didn't change when he was forced to become Hyeon Kim. Even after a year of knowing the other Legends, and even growing to become friends with some of them, he still couldn't shake the nervousness he felt when they invited him to outings like this. 

Especially after the events of a few months ago.

He shook his head. He promised himself he wouldn't think about that too much tonight, and besides, Elliott promised him he had invited all but one of the legends, and Tae Joon knew exactly who that was, so that was enough to convince him to attend the party. Plus, Elliott said he had even invited Bloodhound, though he didn't say if they agreed to come or not, but the chance at getting to see them was enough to fill his stomach full of butterflies.

God, Bloodhound. Tae Joon had tried to avoid thinking about them for the past couple of days before the party so he wouldn't end up getting so nervous that he backed out of going, and that had proved to be one of the hardest mental challenges he had faced yet. He figured it was alright to indulge himself now, as there was really no turning back now, no matter how anxious he got.

His thoughts were interrupted as the taxi came to a sudden stop.

"We're here," was all the driver said, so Tae Joon transferred some money to her account for the drive, plus some extra for discretion. With a brief thank you, he climbed out of the taxi, and the woman drove off, leaving him alone and cold in front of the Paradise Lounge. He didn't have much time to reflect, as after just a few seconds of standing, the front doors swung open, and Elliott leaned out, smiling at him.

"Hey! There ya are, you weirdo. I was worried you weren't gonna show up," Elliott said, waving at Crypto to follow him, "C'mon, the party is about to start." Tae Joon rolled his eyes, but followed Elliott into the bar nonetheless. Inside, the temperature rose to an almost uncomfortably warm degree, and the bar was probably the brightest he had ever seen it. There were Christmas lights almost anywhere there was a surface: along the bar edge, along the upper parts of the walls, and even along almost every door frame. It was almost a little overwhelming.

Tae Joon walked with Elliott over to the bar, where Ramya and Renee were sitting.

"Alright, ladies," Elliott said, clasping his hands together, "The Hacker Man himself has finally arrived, which means we can finally get this show on the road." Tae Joon rolled his eyes at the nickname, but it was honestly tamer, and less original, than a lot of the others he would give him.

"About bloody time, I was startin' to think I would have to hop behind the counter and start makin' drinks myself," Ramya said, and Tae Joon raised a brow.

"Elliott wouldn't let anyone start drinking until everyone was here, so it was 'fair,' as he put it," Renee explained to him, holding up air quotes at the word 'fair,' and he huffed out a laugh.

"How polite of him," he said with a roll of his eyes, and Elliott put on an expression of faux offendedness.

"Oh, so the first thing Crypto says tonight is to insult me, alright, I see how it is, buddy," he spun dramatically away from him, arms crossed. He hopped over the counter to the otherside of the bar, which Tae Joon was positive was not Safe Food Handling compliant, and pulled out an empty glass and a couple of brightly colored bottles. 

"Like Renee said, I wanted everyone who plans on drinking tonight to be able to get buzzed at the same time, so that we don't have _some_ people gettin' a lil' too tipsy a lil' too fast," he shot a glance at Ramya, who only glared at him. "Now that everyone who I invited is here, we can finally get down and dirty." Tae Joon opened his mouth to speak.

"And before you ask, yes, they're here too, you'll just have to find them yourself."

Tae Joon's mouth snapped shut.

Renee laughed, then stood up, patting him on the back as she made her way to where Ajay, Makoa and Octavio were talking, appletini in hand. Elliott offered him a drink, and, after brief consideration, took it, nodded his thanks, and walked over to an empty booth. He knew he couldn't spend the whole night sulking alone in a booth; eventually, the other Legends would notice, and one by one they would come over and try to make conversation with him. He didn't mind that, of course, but he wasn't a necessarily social person. Regardless, he would need to get up and start mingling relatively soon, though he could allow himself a brief moment to himself. To hype himself up, he convinced him, and definitely not cause he's nervous about a certain tracker being here. Definitely not that.

God, he knew there had been a chance at being able to see Bloodhound tonight, but he had honestly mostly expected them to decline Elliot's invitation. He was filled with what felt like electrified butterflies, a feeling that he knew alcohol wouldn't help, but he sipped his drink regardless.

Truth was, he had fallen pretty hard for the hunter. He was big enough of a man to admit that. It had taken him a while to realize that, it was honestly embarrassing. Even Renee and, god, _Elliott,_ had noticed his interest in them before he did. He just hoped to whatever god there was that Bloodhound hadn't noticed, too. Though if he were being honest, he wasn't sure if Bloodhound noticed much of him at all, despite everything. They were just… so much cooler than him. Closed off, too, even more than he was, which was saying a lot (he wondered, did they have ghosts buried, too?). That was a part of what drew him to them in the first place. People like Elliott and Octavio were entertaining, but he would always prefer the company of someone quieter, like Bloodhound or Renee. Even Revenant, as terrifying as he still was, was pleasant to be around when he stopped dishing out constant threats of bodily harm. Not to mention, he and Bloodhound were honestly a lot alike (from what little he knew of them), despite how opposite they were in just about everything else. They both loved reading, had a love of all things technological, and even both hated Hammond Robotics, though Bloodhound was far less vocal about it than he was, which was saying a lot cause he only ever talked about it to Renee and Revenant, when he was in a good mood. Honestly, it was inevitable that he would fall for them. He'd even call it fate, if he believed in that sort of thing.

Though, the incident that had really been the final nail in Tae Joon's coffin had been when he and Bloodhound had been teamed up a couple of seasons ago. Their random third- a newbie whose name he had long forgotten- had died within the first couple of minutes of the match, and the timer had run out before he or Bloodhound could grab her banner. They were low on essentially everything, with only three syringes, one shield cell, and a couple of measly stacks of ammo between the two of them. It was a match doomed to end in an unimpressive defeat, which had been how a lot of his matches that season had gone. Bloodhound had done really good that season up until that point, which made him feel even worse about dragging their performance down with him. It hadn't been entirely his fault, in fact, it had been the newbie who had picked the landing spot, but that didn't stop the feelings of guilt from getting to him. Maybe it had been the guilt, maybe it was his frustration, maybe it was both, but whatever it was, Tae Joon decided to twist the rules a bit, and hack a pylon. It was honestly such an insignificant thing (to him, at least, the Apex Officials were definitely not happy about it), but he wanted to be able have _some_ sort of advantage over the enemies, and he had the tools and know-how, so why shouldn't he have done that? In the end it worked out fine, the Officials even let him keep using that ability of his drone in matches, but back when it happened, after the match (which, he and Bloodhound ended up winning, no doubt thanks to being able to know where the final rings would be), he was certain the Officials were going to kick him out of the Games over it. He had even packed up his stuff that very night, waiting for an Official to knock at his door to tell him his fate. And a knock did come that night, but it hadn't been from an Official. Rather, it had been Bloodhound, which was honestly far more surprising, and slightly more concerning. They had asked if they could come in, and Tae Joon, dumbfounded, said yes. His room had been even messier back then than it had been today before he cleaned it, and he remembered the embarrassment he had felt vividly. It didn't seem to affect them much, and as Tae Joon knew now, their room in the Apex Complex was just as messy. Bloodhound had glanced around his room for a moment, then had turned to face him. They had stared at him for a bit longer than he would've liked (though if they did that now, his heart would probably leave his body), and right as he was about to say something about it, they had said, "thank you." Tae Joon had been taken aback; he wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but it certainly hadn't been that. They then explained that they appreciated what he had done, even if it were a bit unfair to the other Legends (he had to bite his tongue to not remind him that the entire match had been unfair to _them_ up until that point), and that they had convinced the Officials to let him stay in the games, under the conditions that he teach Bloodhound how to do a similar thing in order to be able to find map locations. The Officials no doubt had him do that so that it could look like it was their idea all along, but Tae Joon agreed nonetheless, and from there it had been all downhill as far as falling for the hunter went.

Tae Joon's trip down memory lane was abruptly interrupted when he saw a dark figure enter the bar from the back entrance out of the corner of his eye. A brief moment of panic filled him, but when he turned to see who it was, his quickened heart began beating for a different reason.

There, dressed in the most casual clothes he had ever seen them in, was Bloodhound.

They were still fully covered up, of course. They wore a plain, dark sweater that hugged their frame perfectly, as if it had been tailor made just for them. It seemed they had opted for a pair of dark jeans, as well, which was something Tae Joon, for some reason, hadn't expected. He wasn't sure what they would wear casually, but jeans certainly weren't what he had in mind. To top off their outfit, literally and figuratively, they wore a much sleeker version of their normal headwear that was mostly black with some red accents. Based off a large symbol he could spot on the side of it, and the overall quality of it, he would have to guess it had been made by a high quality name brand, which didn't seem Bloodhound's style, so the mask was no doubt a gift from Loba. She had a tendency to do that ever since the fiasco between her and Revenant; giving people gifts as a way of apology, and as far as he could tell, both Bloodhound and Bangalore received a majority of her gifts.

He allowed his eyes to wander their form, where a noticed not one, not two, but three variously sized knives, secured and hidden, on different parts of their body. _Always prepared,_ he thought, amused, and a faint smile came to his face. He heard Elliott laugh distantly from the bar, and that's when he realized, oh shit, he'd been staring at them a little too long, and oh _shit_ , they were definitely looking back at him.

Tae Joon quickly turned his head away and back down to his drink, which was mostly empty by now. He willed Bloodhound to go anywhere else but to him, not wanting to embarrass himself even more if they tried to talk to him, or even worse, if they confronted him about his staring. Or would it be worse if they didn't bring up his staring at all?

The booth chair made a noise as someone sat down across from him, and if his heart kept beating as fast as it was, he was bound to be dead by the end of the night.

"May I sit here?" A thickly, accented voice asked.

"You are already sitting," Tae Joon pointed out, because of course his first words to Bloodhound would be sarcastic.

"I could always stand back up-"

"No, no, you can sit with me. You can sit wherever you like," he said quickly, and he had never so badly wanted to slap himself across the head. Bloodhound huffed out a laugh, one that was somehow accentuated by their face mask, causing Tae Joon's breath to catch on his throat.

God, he was in deep.

"I must apologize, I had been outside when you arrived, otherwise I would have greeted you," Bloodhound said, leaning back into their seat casually, arms crossed. 

"Oh, it's alright. I didn't know you smoked," Tae Joon leaned back as well, wanting to appear as equally cool as they were, hoping it did seem like he was copying their every move. Bloodhound laughed again.

"I don't smoke, my lungs are far too poor for that, though I suppose there was an amount of 'smoking' going on," they said, the hidden smile on their face made apparent by the tone of their voice. He quirked his brow, not getting whatever joke they were implying.

"No, I was just burning some bundles of pine needles. It is customary to do so on Yule," Bloodhound explained.

"Ah, I thought you had just decided to try out a new cologne," Tae Joon said, and Bloodhound laughed. He cleared his throat, ignoring the swarm of butterflies in his chest. "Is Yule today, then?"

Bloodhound nodded, leaning forward and placing their gloved hands on the table, clasped together.

"Yes, every year Yule takes place on the winter solstice, whether that be the 21st of December or the 22nd. It is similar to your Christmas holiday, and I believe Christmas even borrows a lot of the traditions of Yule, such as the use of Mistletoe," they said, nodding towards the doorway that led into the back room. "Though, it appears Mirage has used Holly instead of actual Mistletoe, but even Holly has its meaning in Yule, so I suppose he can be forgiven."

"So burning pine, what is that for?" He asked.

"For protection and purifying, usually I burn it in my home, but I figure Mirage's bar could use some protection, too," they said, glancing over at Octavio who already appeared way too drunk. Or perhaps he was still sober, and had just gotten bored.

"Is that what Yule is about? Protection?" Tae Joon asked, and Bloodhound nodded, raising their hand to make a so-so motion.

"Yes, but it's specifically the celebration of renewal and rebirth, the ending of an era. After the winter solstice, the days only get longer, the nights shorter, and the weather slowly gets warmer. In some places, at least. It's a way of ridding yourself of anything bad in the past, and moving onto new, better things. Think of it as if New Year's and Christmas were one holiday," they said, then added, "Kind of."

"That sounds nice," he said, nodding, "I wish things could be as easy as just being able to move on from the past like that by choice." Bloodhound tilted their head downward.

"Yes, it is easier said than done, in some cases," their voice trailed off, and Tae Joon mentally smacked himself for bringing the mood down. Leave it to him to turn everything sour.

The two sat in silence for a moment, then Bloodhound cleared their throat.

"I'm grateful you decided to come tonight, it is always a pleasure being around you, Hyeon."

His heart jumped into his throat at the sound of them saying his name, even if it wasn't his real one. They, of course, knew his real name, and were one of only two people who knew (Renee being the other, he had tried to tell Natalie but it didn't turn out well), but it was safer for them to use his fake name, just they didn't accidentally slip up around the wrong people one day.

Bloodhound began digging through their pockets, bringing Tae Joon back out of his thoughts.

"I actually, ah, have something for you," they said, and Tae Joon's eyes widened, "It's another reason why I'm glad you came. I was starting to feel silly carrying this around." And at that, they pulled out a small box.

"Oh, moving kind of fast there, don't you think?" Tae Joon joked immediately, and this time he actually had to restrain himself from facepalming. Luckily, Bloodhound laughed. Almost nervously, Tae Joon noted. _Careful,_ he thought to himself, _don't get hopeful._

Without saying anything, they handed him the box. He took it, his fingers brushing their gloved ones, causing his mind to swirl. They withdrew their hands and clasped them back together, twiddling their thumbs. He pulled at the latch to open it, but failed to actually open the box. He fiddled with it for a few seconds more before Bloodhound spoke up.

"Ah, yes, that latch always gets stuck. I meant to put it into a different box beforehand, I apologize," they held out their hand and he handed it back to them. They fiddled with it for a moment, then with a sigh, took off one of their gloves. Tae Joon's world froze.

It was just a hand, it was _just_ a _hand_ , he told himself, but he couldn't pull his eyes away. He felt like a repressed ancient Victorian woman, as if he had never seen bare skin before. In a sense, it was true. He had never seen Bloodhound's skin before, and he found himself feeling drunk off the sight of their hand alone. Their hand was lightly calloused and firm, yet their wrist was dainty in appearance (really, Tae Joon? Dainty?). Their flesh was tanned in color, ever so slightly darker than his, but of similar tone. He couldn't help but wonder what the rest of them looked like.

Before he had a chance to ponder any longer, they had unhooked the latch with their bare hand, and was handing the box back to him. His eyes snapped away from their hand and onto the box, and took it back from them. They quickly put their glove back on, much to his dismay.

He turned his attention fully into the box, and slowly opened it up. Inside was a small, wooden miniature model of his drone. He let out a gasp.

"Did you hand carve this?" He asked, and they nodded. He took it out and examined it closer. Besides being wooden and unpainted, it was a perfect replica of his drone, down to even the smallest of details. He held it gingerly, afraid that even the smallest wrong move would cause it to break in his hands. "I thought Elliott said there would be no gift giving tonight? I- I didn't get you anything, I'm-"

Bloodhound held up a hand, then jutted their thumb towards where Natalie and Ramya stood, just as Natalie was handing Ramya a small, neatly wrapped present.

"Everyone is breaking the rule a little bit. Besides, I've been working on this for a while. I would've painted it, but I ran out of time. I figured it would be nice to give it to you for your holiday," they said.

"You know, I don't celebrate Christmas, you didn't have to do this for me," Tae Joon said.

"Oh-"

"But, I'm still so grateful," he added on quickly, "this is, honestly, this is the nicest and just thoughtful gift anyone has gotten me in...a long time."

Bloodhound seemed to beam at that, sitting up straighter.

"That is a shame, you deserve to get as many gifts as your heart desires," they said softly, and Tae Joon's eyes met their goggles. "I am glad you like it, though. I wasn't sure if you would be a fan of something as simple as this. I am sorry, however, I didn't realize you didn't celebrate Christmas."

He shrugged, setting the wooden drone gently back in it's box, securing the latch and setting it in his coat pocket.

"Most people assume I do, it's alright," he said, smiling, "Besides, we can just say it was a Yule gift. Uh, if that's a thing, that is."

"It can be, yes," they said with a laugh, and Tae Joon laughed too.

"I promise I'll get you something in return, Bloodhound," he said, and they raised their hand in a stop motion.

"You do not have to, Hyeon. Your presence is present enough," they said.

"Oh, I didn't realize you were a poet," he joked.

"I am, actually. What gave it away?"

"Oh, really? I- you should let me read some of your stuff sometime. Uh, if you want, that is," Tae Joon said, clearing his throat. Bloodhound hummed.

"Perhaps, but only if you let me read some of your writing," they said, and his eyes widened.

"You know about that?" He asked incredulously. Bloodhound laughed.

"I've noticed a few notebooks in your room in the times I've visited," they said simply, and Tae Joon's face flushed red, causing them to laugh more.

"I promise it's not anything weird-"

"Of course not."

"And mostly they're just personal journals, really."

"I still would love to hear your stories all the same, Tae Joon."

They had said his name softly, to where he was the only one who could ever hear it, and his heart nearly stopped. He stared at them, searching their face for what, he wasn't sure. He smiled softly, surely matching the one that he knew they had on as well. He cleared his throat and leaned back, crossing his arms, just as Bloodhound had done when they first sat down.

"So, Bloodhound, tell me more about Yule."

And they did. Bloodhound talked about Yule traditions, along with other traditions of their peoples, for half of the night, with Tae Joon cutting in here and there to ask questions, or to say something to make them laugh. The two of them went on to talk about almost anything under the sun, only ever stopping when people would come over to mingle. Every so often, he would catch Elliott grinning at him smugly from his place at the bar, and Tae Joon would have to discreetly roll his eyes at him. Despite Elliott's teasing, he felt like he was glowing brighter than even the Christmas lights that hung around the bar. He never wanted the night to end.

But with all things, the night was coming to a close, and the last of the Legends were beginning to leave, with only him, Elliott, Renee, Ramya, Bloodhound and an unconscious Octavio still there (Ajay had requested that one of them take him home, as she was far too drunk to do so). Loba and Anita had left just a moment before, with Loba's hand on the small of Anita's back, though if you asked either of them, they would deny any sort of relationship between them.

Tae Joon and Bloodhound helped Elliott clean up the bar, as Ramya and Renee were both a bit too drunk to help. Well, Ramya was probably fine (she was a heavyweight, after all), but she would take any excuse not to help clean. Afterwards, Ramya made her way into the bathroom-turned-bedroom for the night, and Elliott helped both Renee and Octavio into his car.

"Are you sure you don't want me to take Renee home? I'm going to be headed to the Apex Complex, too, you know," Tae Joon offered once more, and Elliott shook his head.

"Nah, don't worry about it, buddy. I need to head out there anyways to grab some things before I visit my mom for the holidays. Besides, I'm sure you and Bloodhound would prefer to be alone," Elliott said with an insufferable wink, and Tae Joon groaned. Luckily, Bloodhound had been still inside, so at least he didn't have to be twice as embarrassed as he already was. Elliott slapped him on the back.

"Hey, don't go lookin' constipated on me now, ya know I'm just messin' with ya. For real though, you and Bloodhound have fun. Happy Holidays, you weirdo," Elliott walked over to the driver's side of his car and opened the door. "Oh, and tell Bloodhound they don't have to worry about locking up, Ramya will get it once they're done in there."

And with that, Elliott climbed in, started up the car, and slowly drove off, no doubt not wanting to wake either of the two passengers in the backseat. Tae Joon tried not to think about how he knew for a fact that Elliott didn't have his driver's license.

Just as the car turned a corner out of sight, the door behind him opened and Bloodhound walked out into the cold, followed by a grouchy looking Revenant. Tae Joon raised a brow at him, to which he responded with a deep, metallic grumble as he began walking out into the night. Tae Joon looked towards Bloodhound for answers, who shrugged.

"He had been sulking in the supply closet. I heard him breaking things in there so I had to go in and clean it up before Elliott noticed," they said simply. Tae Joon chuckled.

"Well," they continued, "I suppose we should both start heading to our homes." They paused for a moment. "Would… You like me to drive you back to the Complex?"

Tae Joon's surprise, for once, won out over his lovestruck heart.

"You have a car?" He asked, and Bloodhound laughed.

"Yes, as surprising as it is, I do have a car. I'm not ancient, you know," they said, and Tae Joon realized he didn't actually know how old they were. As if reading his mind, they added simply, "I'm 34."

"Oh, nice," he said, and Bloodhound laughed. He could just hear Elliott's voice calling him an idiot right now. He cleared his throat. "That would be nice, if you wouldn't mind the drive."

"Of course not, it is no problem at all."

And with that, the two of them began their trek through the snow blanketed city to reach the parking lot where Bloodhound had parked (they always parked far, they explained, so that there'd less of a chance at someone figuring out who it belonged to). Despite the freezing temperatures, Tae Joon had never felt warmer in his life, with the warmth of Bloodhound's body walking next to him enough to keep him warm the entire winter. If he focused hard enough, he could swear that every so often, Bloodhound's hand would come so close to his own, that they almost touched. Perhaps Bloodhound was onto something with Yule, he thought to himself, and he wondered if maybe, just maybe, a new era of his life was dawning, with longer days.

**Author's Note:**

> Crypto and Bloodhound isn't a ship I had really thought of before, or really even knew about, but I had a lot of fun writing this! I really love their dynamic, I think the Crypthound shippers are onto somethin' here.
> 
> Some additional notes:  
> 1\. This takes place around Season 7, even though I know they're technically on Olympus right now in the lore. This is my lore now, bitches  
> 2\. This hasn't been proofread by anyone except me (twice), so please feel free to point out any errors! This was also typed almost exclusively on my phone, save for the first four "pages" or so. I will almost certainly be coming back to this to fix any mistakes lmao  
> 3\. Had to make sure I didn't go overboard on the Yule conversation cause I tend to go a lil' crazy when talking about Yule lmao, I'm a simple pagan man.  
> 4\. Why doesn't AO3 have a N/M or N/F or N/N category yet >:(
> 
> Happy Holidays, everyone!


End file.
